Wednesday, July 17, 2013

BOY, DID I DO SOMETHING DUMB TUESDAY NIGHT

HAD TO RELY ON A FEW OF MY FILE PHOTOS TONIGHT,,,JUST TOO HOT FOR PICTURE TAKING THE PAST FEW DAYS

Knew it was going to be another boiler cooker of a day so I was in the Jeep early & headed for Henry's Camera Store in London Ontario this morning. Wanted to be there when they opened at 10 & back to Bayfield before the heavy heat & humidity set in again. Although I did make it back shortly after 12 I did not escape being cooked!!

At Henry’s I had some questions about my new Nikon D3100 & needed an explanation of why the 'auto focus' will not work right with my older Nikkor 18-35mm lens. I read the manual & I searched the internet but was unable to come up with a workable answer to my on-line questions. I find mechanical or technical things easier if someone shows me or explains to me why things are the way they are. Understanding something I am reading seems to be more difficult for me these days. Also wanted a knowledgeable camera person to actually handle the camera & lens to see if there was some kind of a definite problem between the lens & the camera. And, there was. I was relieved it wasn’t just me.

Although my aging 18-55mm lens works fine with my older D90 & D40, the contact points were probably just a tad too worn for the new D3100. Long story short....I bought a new 18-55mm lens which works perfectly with the new camera now. No more auto-focus problems. I will put my older 18-55mm lens on my D40 & use that camera as a back-up. A back-up for what I don't know but it's just there if needed. I would say 90% of all my countless thousands of photos over the last 7 years have been taken with that dependable old 18-55mm lens. It has been a true workhorse of reliability for me. Kinda sad to gently retire my old friend but I am kind of like that with objects & things which have worked out well & brought me so many fond memories over the years.

Kelly checked on-line a few days ago about the cost of installing an A/C unit in our Jeep & found it would probably run in access of $2,000. So, that's not going to happen. Maybe trade the Jeep in for a vehicle with A/C?? No Sireeeeeeeeee, not getting rid of that little Jeep any time soon. It's my fav:))

Well, I did just about the dumbest thing Tuesday night. Late in the afternoon I clicked on the Park Theatre site in Goderich to see what movies were playing. It was half price Tuesday & figured if there was something remotely interesting at either one of the two on site theatres I would go. One of the theatres had 'Grown Ups' playing. Knew right off that was not a movie for me. I'm not an Adam Sandler/David Spade or Chris Rock fan. With those guys in it I already new the high school level mentality would be trashy & just plain dumb. The second theatre had an animation movie playing called 'Despicable Me 2. Couldn't remember the last time I had ever seen a full length animation movie at a theatre. Decades, maybe even half a century. Decided to give 'Despicable Me 2' a try & by 7:30 last night I was in Goderich imbedded in the line up outside the theatre.

One ticket for 'Despicable Me 2' please. Walked into the lobby, up the steps & straight into the big theatre ahead of me. I always like to sit right in the center half way between the front & back seats. I am always on the early side so I am always able to find the seat I prefer. Movie didn't start for half an hour so I tinkered around with my Canon Powershot camera which I always carry with me. Sharply at 8 the lights dimmed & the up-coming movie previews began. A few minutes later we were through the previews & it was time for the main feature....'Despicable Me 2' right.........................

THIS TROPICAL LITTLE BIRD FELLOW IS MADE OUT OF WOOD & SITS ON OUR COMPUTER DESKWrong!!!!! For a second or two I thought a preview for ‘Grown Ups’ had popped onto the screen. But, it wasn't a preview. ‘OH NO’.........I was in the wrong theatre!!!!!!!! Quickly realized I had 2 options. Either get up immediately, embarrass myself, disrupt half a dozen people sitting on the right side of me, walk over to the other theatre, grovel around in the dark & disrupt another dozen people trying to find a seat, or.......I could just suck up my mistake, stay quietly where I was & sit through a movie I already knew was going to be crappy. Nine out of ten people would have chosen the first option. Why am I always that tenth person!! Stayed where I was & toughed out the next hour & a forty minutes. But here was the scary part for me. The theatre was packed & from all around me came the sounds of kids & teen-agers practically rolling in the aisles with laughter. I'm sitting there thinking to myself, this is the stupidest, the dumbest, & the very much most worst movie I have ever seen in my entire life. Some people even clapped when the movie was finally over. Have I slid that far down the slippery slope of life that I have lost my sense of humor. Well, in defense of myself, no I have not lost my sense of humor. It's just not on the level anymore of cheesy site gags, crappy dialogue, mediocre actors,(except for Kevin James) & cheap potty humor. And all that probably thrown together by some director kid fresh out of high school because that was the mentality level this movie was produced at. In my humble opinion this movie was just plain baaaaaaaaad!! Oh, & did I mention I was again probably the oldest person sitting in the theatre?? Okay, guess I forgot that part:((On the way out of the theatre I glanced over to the other side of the confection bar in the lobby & saw the entrance for theatre 2, where I should have been!! I was then struck by a second scary thought. It was totally by accident that I had walked into the correct theater the last two times I had come to a movie there last month. When I walked into that lobby tonight my mind did not for one mili-second think of the second theatre. And, I do not remember any kind of lighted sign indicating which movie was playing in which theatre. Oh well, worst movie of ever or not, it was just worth it to get out & do something different. And darn good thing it was half price movie night too. My little foible cost me all of $6 & I am wondering today if it constitutes as a ‘Senior Moment’:))

It was the photo of Timber stretched out with a leg & paw stretched across his little stuffed toy teddy bear that caught my eye over at RV SUE & HER CANINE CREW'S blog. There is quite an ongoing story here about a man & his dog Sue met a year ago while wandering & boondocking her way around the West. To catch up with the on-going saga of Rusty & Timber just head on over to Sue’s blog & see why Sue is excited about an email she received Tuesday. Be sure to follow her link for the full story. It has a happy ending but you might want to take a few tissues along with you anyway………………….. GROANER'S CORNER:(( Did you know that if a man can be properly trained he can become a dog's best friend. Yes, it's actually true...................... ------------------------------------------------------------- - Tourists see the world, travelers experience it. - Home is where your pet is:)) - "If having a soul means being able to feel love and loyalty and gratitude, then animals are better off than a lot of humans." (James Herriot) - The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails -William Arthur Ward - The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...AL. - It is not so much having nothing to do as it is not having the interest to do something....AL.

13 comments:

I had a senior moment with my new compass this afternoon, so I guess we all have those once in a while. I couldn't have ever sat through a movie that I didn't like, and would have stumbled over everyone in the theater to get out, so you are a polite man! The last time I was in a movie theater was in the 1980's (Mel Brooks & Ann Southern in "To Be or Not To Be". I laughed myself silly!

Glad you suffered through it. Now you will confirm which movie you are going to see.We saw our dollar movie today in the 16 theater mall. I had to get my wife into the correct movie. That place is mighty confusing.Hope you go back for the half price Despicable Me II. It should be a lot of fun.

Al...I have one up on you..I went to the wrong funeral home for a visitation and realized I did not KNOW the corpse in the casket...I payed my respects to whom ever she was and got the Hell outta there...very embarrassing. Then I went to the RIGHT funeral home...so, you see...I am the queen of stupid.

If everyone was like me they wouldn't be making movies anymore. The last movie I saw at a theater was Little Women in 1994. I seldom even watch a movie on TV. Most are just too dumb, gross or violent. If you put me in a cool, dark place I will probably go to sleep. I can take a nap for free.

I haven't been in a movie theater since "Batman" came out. The first one. Just a bit too loud for me, and the air condition was set to "stun".So that was that. I just wait until a movie comes out on DVD or is available to see as a media file. I won't get into the way that works. Wouldn't be prudent.Then if I don't like the movie, I just switch it off. Brave of you to go to the movies.I think "Despicable Me 2" should be fun. I've seen the first one, and even my wife liked it, and she hates anything animated. Better luck next time.

Hi Al! Like Bob said, I think you should give "Despicable Me 2" a second chance. I've only seen the first one, but if you haven't seen animation lately, let me say that the animation technology alone is enough to keep you quite interested! I'm only saying this because you and I sound like 2 peas in a pod as far as so many things - personality, quirks, food habits - etc. (Except I wish I had a Kelly - HAHAHAAA!!!!!!) but anyway, don't give up on some of the Pixar or other animation movies!--Jool

AL'S CAMERA EQUIPMENT

A sometimes asked question readers have about my blog is what kind of a camera do I use. Well I have 8 of them and use them all. Five Nikon DSLR's, two quality Sony point and shoots plus one older Canon point and shoot.

'UPDATE':: July 2017 Thanks to a very generous blog reader I have been able to update my Nikon camera equipment and supplement my camera gear with a couple additional fine Sony cameras as well.I now have a 'donated' Nikon D7200 sporting my new Nikkor 18-300 3.5 zoom lens. Also have picked up a new Nikkor 1.8 primary 35mm lens. In addition I also now have a Sony RX100-3 camera as well as a Sony Exmore Cybershot. I have given my Canon Powershot point and shoot camera to a neighbor.

- In early 2017 I replaced my Nikon D-90 camera with a new D-3400 after the 'auto focus' feature on my aging D-90 quit working. The Nikon D-90 had been my work horse camera sporting a Nikkor 18-55mm 1:3.5-5.6 lens. I used this camera for most of my landscapes and I now have it set up for night photography where 'auto focus' is not necessary.

-My older faithful and favorite Nikon D-40 finally packed it in during the summer of 2015 and I replaced it with a new Nikon D-3100.

- Previous to my Nikon D-90, most of my photos were taken with my old faithful Nikon D-50 from 2006 to early 2011 whereupon the D-50 suffered a rather gruesome death when it fell off a table onto a cement porch in southeastern Arizona. The 70-300mm lens on the camera survived the fall but the D-50 did not. My Nikkor lenses are interchangable between the D-90 the D-3100 and the D-3400.